He’d arranged to meet Lizzie after the café closed for the day. The young waitress Nikki had responded so well to his training and confidence-boosting, he’d done himself out of his job as a barista. His role at Bay Bites now comprised helping out for a few hours over lunchtime—and that was only an excuse to be with Lizzie. His two-hour time limit? Twenty hours of Lizzie’s company a day wouldn’t be enough.
She was already there when he got to the lookout, a block away from the café, with the best view in Dolphin Bay of the harbour. It was a perfect afternoon, the water sparkling aquamarine under a cloudless sky. Fishing boats and pleasure craft of all shapes and sizes bobbed on the water and the melodic chime of rigging against masts carried across to where he stood.
Lizzie wore a pink sundress that bared her shoulders and arms. Fine tendrils of her pale blonde hair had escaped from the band that held it back from her face and wafted in the slight breeze. There was no reason for her to be anything but happy and relaxed. But he could see straight away that something was bothering her—he’d learned to read the way anxiety tightened her face and dimmed the light in her eyes.
They greeted each other with a discreet kiss on the cheek—as friends, colleagues and family connections would. After a night of lovemaking, he’d left her warm and satisfied in her bed when he’d exited before dawn. It had been difficult to leave her but they both wanted to keep their new intimacy a secret.
‘What’s up?’ he asked.
‘How do you always know?’ she asked with the shadow of a smile.
‘Just observant,’ he said.
But it was more than that. The connection between them grew stronger with each minute they spent together. It was a bond he’d never had before. But it also brought fear of the inevitable pain if that connection was ever severed. Wussy versus brave, he reminded himself. He’d chosen to take the brave path, to let feeling grow rather than stifle it with fear. So, it seemed, had she.
Lizzie took his hand and gave it a surreptitious squeeze. He knew without further words being spoken that she valued the depth of their connection too.
She looked up at him ‘You know Amy is due back tomorrow?’
‘I know how much you’re looking forward to seeing her. Why the glum face?’
‘Philippe is escorting her on her flight from Lyon. I was going to drive up to Sydney to meet her plane. Now he’ll hire a car to bring her here.’
‘Your ex? Here in Dolphin Bay?’ He was hit by a blow of dismay. Lizzie’s ex-husband played an active role in Amy’s life. But having him here on home turf was not a move he welcomed.
‘It’s as much a surprise to me as it is to you,’ she said.
For her sake, he suppressed the stab of jealousy that knifed him. ‘That’s good for Amy.’
‘Yes. The airline does a wonderful job of escorting her. In fact she enjoys the fuss the attendants make of her so much she’s probably protesting having her papa with her. But I worry every second she’s on the plane by herself so in that way I’m glad he’ll be there.’
‘Of course you are.’
He admired Lizzie’s dedication to her daughter. Amy was a fantastic little kid, smart, funny, outgoing. If—and it was still a big if—he got to be a permanent part of Lizzie’s life he would welcome a role in Amy’s life too.
‘I’m worried about why Philippe wants to see me so much he’s flying all the way to Australia.’ That favourite stray piece of hair was getting another workout between her fingers.
‘Maybe because he’s missing you.’ Jesse spoke lightly but his gut roiled.
‘Nothing like that,’ she said, shaking her head with a vehemence Jesse should have found reassuring but didn’t. If he’d had Lizzie for his own, he would never have let her get away. Her ex-husband must have regretted it a million times. Maybe that was what he wanted to tell her. Perhaps he had a good story to spin about how he’d changed.
‘He says there’s something important that has to be said face to face,’ Lizzie continued.
The ex wanted her back. Jesse just knew it. ‘So what do you think your ex wants?’
‘I’m terrified he’s going for full custody of Amy. He’s used it as a threat before to try and keep me in France. I can’t think what else he would need to see me about.’
Jesse thought he knew only too well what her ex would want: Lizzie and Amy back with him. But he didn’t share his thoughts. Instead he reassured her. ‘You’re a wonderful mother. You can provide a secure home for Amy. No way would he have grounds to say you’re unfit for custody. Don’t the courts usually rule in favour of the mother?’
Lizzie snatched her hand to her mouth. ‘The courts? Please don’t let it get that far.’
‘You’ll know tomorrow what he wants. There’s nothing you can do in the meantime. Try to stop worrying.’ He didn’t want her to be preoccupied with her ex on the last night they had together alone before Amy came home. The dynamic between them would be changed when they had to fit their private time around the needs of a five-year-old.
‘If their flight is on time and all goes well, he and Amy should be here by midmorning.’
She banged the railing of the seafront wall with such force it surely must have hurt her hand. ‘Why is he doing this to me? After all he put me through before? I’ve done everything I can to be civilised about the divorce, to make it easier for Amy. Letting her go to France half of every school holidays. Video calls every week. Why?’ She muttered under her breath in what Jesse could only assume was a string of fluent French swear words.
It was the closest to anger he had seen her, though he’d heard a few explosions coming from the kitchen at Bay Bites. ‘You really don’t want to see him, do you?’
‘Of course I don’t. Why would I?’
Jesse’s spirits lifted at the thought. Sounded as if any possible reunion could be wishful thinking on the ex-husband’s part.
‘Do you want me to be there when you meet with him?’
‘No.’
Her answer came with such swiftness that Jesse felt as if he’d been hit with an unexpected punch between the eyes. ‘Whatever,’ he said.
Her face filled with contrition. She reached out and touched him fleetingly on the cheek with slender, cool fingers. ‘I didn’t mean to sound hurtful. Of course I would like you by my side when I confront Philippe. But if he’s after sole custody, I wouldn’t want him to know I was in a relationship with a man.’
‘I don’t want to jeopardise anything,’ Jesse said. ‘But I’ll be at hand. Just in case.’
‘No need for that,’ she said. ‘Philippe hasn’t got a violent bone in his body. I wouldn’t let Amy spend so much time with him if he had any tendencies that way. No. I can handle this by myself—like I did with the issues that ended the marriage.’
Jesse muttered assent. But no way would he let Lizzie go into this by herself. When she met with her ex he would be nearby.
But, to help her, he needed to know what had happened to end the marriage in such a drastic way she’d come back to Australia to raise her child on her own.
‘Lizzie, we’ve skirted around this. But what actually happened to end your marriage? To make you so wary of men like your ex.’
* * *
Lizzie hated reliving the past. She and her sister had handled what had happened with their father by having a ‘water under the bridge’ policy that had so far served her well.
But Jesse deserved to know.
‘I don’t really like to talk about this, so I won’t linger on the details,’ she said.
‘Fine by me,’ he said. He leaned back against the lookout wall with his back to the view. Lizzie couldn’t help thinking she’d rather look at Jesse than any number of rustic stone breakwaters and charming boats in the harbour, no matter how picturesque.
‘I met Philippe when we were
both working at a hotel up in Port Douglas. When he left to go back home to France I went with him. It was an adventure—and good for my career. Living in Paris was a ball, working all hours then partying hard.’
‘I hear a “but” coming on.’
She nodded. ‘I fell pregnant. It was unplanned. But we got married, made the best of it. When there were some complications in the pregnancy, I wanted to go home to have the baby. My French had improved out of sight by then but I didn’t feel I really understood the doctors and the hospitals. Philippe didn’t much like it—and his family were horrified—but I came home to stay with Sandy.’
‘Why didn’t your husband go with you?’
‘He had a really good job; I didn’t want him to give it up. Not when we were about to have a child to support. Neither of us wanted to accept money from his parents with the strings that went with it.’
‘I wouldn’t have let you go by yourself. Under any circumstances.’
‘You’re you. Philippe was Philippe.’ She looked up at Jesse. ‘I really, really hate talking about this.’
‘I wish I could hug you but, in case you hadn’t noticed, a couple of my mother’s friends are walking on the other side of the road. If I touch you, the whole town will soon know.’
Lizzie turned around. Sure enough, two older ladies who had become regulars at the café and drank more cups of tea in the space of an hour than she had imagined anyone could possibly drink, had drawn level to them. She forced a smile and waved to them.
She turned back to Jesse. ‘I see what you mean. I want to hug you too. More than you could know. But I’ll get on with the story so I can be done with it.’ She gritted her teeth. ‘I got back to France and knew immediately something was different.’
‘To cut a long story even shorter, he’d met someone else,’ said Jesse with a scowl.
‘How did you know that?’
‘Lucky guess,’ he said.
He must dislike hearing this as much as she disliked saying it. She appreciated how difficult it must have been for him to tell her about that dreadful Camilla.
‘She was a commis, a junior chef, in the restaurant where Philippe worked. He said it meant nothing.’
‘He was lonely; she threw herself at him,’ Jesse drawled, contempt edging his voice.
‘All that. He confessed and begged my forgiveness.’
Jesse’s mouth tightened to a thin line. ‘You know my opinion. No cheating under any circumstances.’
Was Jesse judging her? She wished she hadn’t started this conversation.
‘What choice did I have? I was twenty-three, had a brand new baby. We moved to Lyon to make a fresh start. I went back to work when Amy was six months old. But things were very different. No more party girl Lizzie.’
‘I think I can predict the rest.’ Jesse’s hands were curled into fists.
‘He swore he was faithful but I couldn’t believe him. I was so jealous and suspicious I became a horrible person no one would want to live with. I stuck it until Amy was four. You know the rest.’
‘Did you love him?’ Jesse’s question came from left field.
‘I thought I did.’
‘What do you feel about him now?’ Jesse’s voice was tight, his eyes guarded.
She frowned. ‘That’s a strange question to ask after what I’ve been telling you. Philippe is done and dusted as far as I’m concerned. Not only do I not love him, I don’t actually like him.’
Jesse’s face darkened. ‘Best I don’t meet the guy tomorrow. You might not be able to hold me back.’
‘I’ve probably said too much. But now you know why I resisted getting involved with someone I thought might hurt me in the same way.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE NEXT DAY Lizzie was so nervous about the upcoming confrontation with Philippe she felt nauseous. She had organised extra help in the kitchen so she could spend the day with Amy. That also allowed her time for a private meeting with her ex-husband. Dread that he might try to take Amy away from her put her so on edge she wasn’t fit to work anyway.
In the fairy tale her life in Dolphin Bay with Jesse had become, she cast Philippe in the role of the ogre who could take her happiness away. She was ready with sword and shield to fight him. She had given up her career and moved to Dolphin Bay for Amy’s sake. She could give her daughter a good life here. She would never, ever let her go.
The reunion with Amy had been ecstatic, as it always was when they’d been apart for any length of time. She’d held her darling girl tightly to her, breathed in the apple shampoo freshness of her, laughed and pretended to squirm at Amy’s exuberant hugs and kisses.
As usual after Amy had been with her father and his family it had taken her a few minutes to adjust to speaking English, to being a little Australian girl again. But after Lizzie had shown her the café—where the staff had made a huge fuss of her—and her new home upstairs, Amy had happily gone off with Maura. No doubt she would be introduced to little Alfie and then the begging and pleading to keep him would start. Lizzie decided to keep an open mind on that one.
Maura had so much grandmotherly love to give—and Amy was the only child in their family she had to lavish it on. Lizzie was aware of the thread of sadness underlying Maura’s warmth, stemming from the tragic loss of Ben’s little son.
With Amy settled with Maura, now it would be just her and Philippe, squaring up against each other as adversaries with their child the spoils of battle. She hadn’t seen her ex-husband for more than a year. Sometimes she liked to imagine he didn’t exist. But he was here in Dolphin Bay. She took a deep steadying breath to centre herself and headed to the Hotel Harbourside. Let the battle begin.
She’d chosen neutral territory, a quiet corner of the guest lounge. At this time of day, during the week, there should be no one to disturb them. She regretted the hurt that had flashed across Jesse’s face when she had declined his offer to accompany her. But this was something she had to do by herself.
She cast a quick eye around the room. Jesse had said he would be nearby in case he needed to rush in to her defence—like a true Prince Charming would. She couldn’t see him anywhere, but she trusted he was there. Jesse was true to his word. Although she knew the confrontation with Philippe wouldn’t get physical—unless he’d changed out of sight—it was reassuring to know that Jesse was close.
Then Philippe was there, greeting her with his accented English that had charmed her years ago. She braced herself and looked up at her ex, his handsome face with his prominent nose and Amy’s eyes, his dark blond hair. He had once been so dear to her; they had started off with such high hopes, now he meant nothing. There was an element of sadness—of failure—to her thoughts but no regret. If it wasn’t for Amy, she would be happy never to have to see him again.
* * *
Jesse knew the layout of the Hotel Harbourside very well. It had not been difficult to find a spot where, with the help of a large wall mirror, he could sit in a large, high-backed lounge chair and keep an eye on Lizzie without her—or her ex-husband—seeing him. He held an open newspaper in front of him and flicked through its pages without seeing a word. It was like a stake-out. Cloak and dagger stuff. Only this was a game where the stakes were very high.
Lizzie had come into the guest lounge by herself. She was dressed more formally than he had seen her, wearing narrow black trousers and a tight cropped jacket with the sleeves pushed up. Her hair was pulled back in a thick plait that hung in pale contrast down the back of the black jacket. She looked elegant, stylish and so unfamiliar it disconcerted him.
He could tell by the way Lizzie squared her shoulders and measured her stride that she was nervous. Was that why she had dressed like that? As armour? The ugly thought intruded. Or to look good for her ex?
She only had seconds to pace the floor by herself before she
was joined by a tall guy wearing grey trousers and a lightweight sweater. Lizzie had always said her cheater of an ex was a good-looking guy. Yeah. He could see that. The Frenchman was big with broad shoulders and a powerful body.
The first thing they did was kiss each other. Twice. Once on each cheek. Jesse knew that was the European way, but still he gripped tight onto the arms of the chair at the sight of Lizzie in an embrace with another guy. Not just another guy. The man she’d married, had intended to spend her life with, the father of her child. Someone she’d loved.
Ex-husband and ex-wife started to talk. Jesse hadn’t hidden close enough to hear their actual words, just the sound of their voices. The conversation seemed to be more intense than angry with Philippe doing a lot of the talking. They were switching between English and French.
It was a shock to see Lizzie speaking French. She looked different—her mouth, her face—and she gesticulated with her hands in a Gallic way. This was a Lizzie who seemed to slip right back into a different persona altogether. It made him wonder how well he actually knew her.
He wished he’d sat closer so he could hear but he would have risked exposure. Was Philippe laying down terms for custody of Amy? Or was he putting his argument for his family to return to him in France? If the dude got angry with Lizzie, Jesse would be up there like a shot to protect her.
But, far from being an angry confrontation with her ex, Lizzie’s meeting seemed amicable. Very amicable. Too amicable.
Lizzie smiled. She laughed. She hugged the guy who she’d told Jesse had made her life hell. The ex smiled too. He seemed too damn happy for a man who was being told his ex-wife would not give him custody of their daughter. Any sense of fun Jesse had felt in staking out Lizzie and her ex was quickly replaced by bitter disbelief.
There was too much laughter and goodwill going on. Lizzie had said she dreaded the meeting but it looked to Jesse as if she was enjoying every minute of it.
Lizzie had problems with jealousy? Jesse had never before been bothered by it, had never understood the emotion. He sure as hell understood it now. Violent jealousy flamed through him at the sight of Lizzie with her ex-husband.
A Diamond in Her Stocking Page 14